Various applications remember recently used files. For example, word processors such as WordPerfect for Windows remember a limited number of recently used files that have been opened or saved. The names of prior opened files are added at the end of a drop-down menu such as the File menu associated with the name "File" on a horizontal bar of the main application window in WordPerfect for Windows. This is a short-hand way of showing the user certain used files which now can be reopened and reaccessed by electing (as by single or plural mouse clicking for example) an entry in the menu corresponding to the file name. The order and content of lists of recently used files are controlled by the application, e.g., the word processor, and, in some applications, the order of the list of recently used files is updated as a less recently used file is used after using a more recently used file. However, known applications do not include a user-controllable mechanism for specifying that entries in the list should be removed.
Also, for some lists of fixed maximum sizes, when a list is full, the addition of a new file to the list causes the least recently used file in the list to be removed from the list to make room for the new file, and the order of the list is updated to make the most recently used file appear first on the list. However, known applications use simple fixed-rule filtering to decide which new entries are to be added to the drop-down menu, and which new entries are the same as already existing entries and, therefore, should only cause the order of entries on the picklist section of the drop-down menu to be updated.
Further, some current applications, such as Pegasus mail for Windows, allow users to call up lists independently of any drop-down menu. As shown in FIG. 1A, when sending mail to a user in Pegasus mail, the user may either fill in the text box marked "To:" or select the question mark icon 31 to indicate that the user wishes to see a list of recently used addresses. Addresses may also be selected from an electronic address book, such as is shown in FIG. 1C, where full e-mail addresses are paired with equivalent aliases. In response to selecting the question mark icon 31, a recently used address list is displayed in a list box, as shown in FIG. 1B, complete with redundant, but not textually equivalent entries. Since the user is not shown the list of names until after selecting the question mark icon, the user cannot see while using the screen of FIG. 1B whether the user wishes to remove any list entries. Also, since the list box contains redundant information, users may become confused as to which address is the proper address. It is desirable to overcome these deficiencies in known picklists and drop-down menus in computer graphical user interfaces (GUIs).